CRPF team reaches Chhattisgarh to review security preparations ahead of polls

Top officials of the Central Reserve Police Force flew from New Delhi to Chhattisgarh last week to review security arrangements ahead of the assembly polls in the backdrop of recent attacks by Maoist insurgents.

As many as 432 new polling booths have been added to the 23,677 booths in the 2018 polls after the government took back control of over two dozen areas from the Maoists in recent years.

Two additional companies of the CRPF’s commando battalions have been airlifted to Chhattisgarh, which will be stationed in hypersensitive areas. Separately, 62 additional companies have been brought into the state. There are around 3,000 sensitive booths.

The security forces have identified at least 250 hypersensitive polling booths, where paramilitary personnel will provide security at polling booths, official aware of the matter said. They will also escort the booth officers a day before the elections and bring them back after voting is over, they said, declining to be named.

Voting for the 90-member assembly will be held on November 7 and 17; votes will be counted on December 3.

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“There are at least 18 polling booths in places such as Mirminda, Kurma, Elmagunda where polling booths have been set up for the first time. Such places were controlled by Naxals. These booths have been tagged as hypersensitive,” one of the officials said. “During the several review meetings, a standard operating protocol for deployment and withdrawal of polling booth officers has been prepared.”

On November 2, Maoists killed a 40-year-old man in Bijapur after accusing him of being a police informer. Separately, posters and notes by the west Bastar division of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), warning polling officers from going to booths, have surfaced in the state.

“There are around 15,000 polling booths in the first phase. The first phase of the election is in Chhattisgarh, which shares its border with Gadhchiroli in Maharashtra (another hotbed for Maoists) and parts of Telangana,” the official said. “Almost all areas in Sukma and Bijapur are also going to vote. These are areas where most (violent) incidents have been reported in the past.”

There is a second category of polling booths among the hypersensitive ones, which are ranked extremely high, a second officer said. These booths are those where there is no motorable road. Polling booth workers and CRPF personnel will have to walk to reach the voting stations.

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“There is a booth in Konta, an area of Banda subdivision, where officials will have to walk at least 10km to reach the polling booth. They will have to pass through a jungle so the chances of attacks by Naxals in such places is more,” the officer said. “Ensuring successful voting in such places is of utmost importance, so there is extra focus in such places.”

At least 4,350 sq. km of land has been reclaimed from the insurgents and 22 new CRPF forward operating bases or camps have been set up in the past two years. A camp is important because it establishes presence in hostile areas and helps establishing normalcy in civilian activities.

In February, the CRPF had set up a camp in Bedre in Sukma district after 17 years. Bedre is significant because it is located in one of the remotest parts of Sukma district. Tondamarka, another area considered a insurgent bastion, was freed in February by security forces and state police.

Last month, Union home minister Amit Shah said left-wing extremism will be uprooted within the next two years. Chairing a review meeting with chief ministers of Maoist affected states, Shah said the central government was working to open 44 more camps in such areas that were earlier controlled by the insurgents.

While 14,862 incidents of violence were reported between May 2005 and April 2014, according to home ministry data, this number has declined to 7,128 between May 2014 and April 2023. Similarly, the deaths have fallen from 6,035 to 1,868 during this period.